Regis No.
t
ECURITY
Top Secret,
DRAFT
LETTER
SIFICATION
To: Sir M Maclehose acak"
Sove lument Awa Hong Kong
Type 1 +
PUS
From
Telephone No. Ext.
Secret.
Confidential.
Restricted. Unclassified.
RIVACY MARKING
Department
In Confidence
You will
have Lean un undirgal un
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MULTIFIBRE ARRANGEMENT
1. Donald Murray has shown me your letter of 3 September
yo NI have ensured that Ministers are fully aware of the argum
Cafa.
ento it contains: This reply has the approval of all the
Ministers concerned, including the Prime Minister.
September.
2. The Commission's chief textile negotiator, Tran Van Tinh,
came to London on 9 September. He gave representatives of
the Whitehall Departments concerned (including the FCO) an
outline of the approach to the negotiation of new bilateral
textile agreements which has already been approved by the
Commission and which will be submitted to the Council of
Ministers on 20
The approach is based on the
concept of concluding comprehensive agreements covering all
textile products, and the keeping of the totality of the
Community's low-cost imports of all products within internally
agreed Community limits which will stabilise imports at 1976
levels. The severity of controls will depend on the degree
of sensitivity of the products, which are divided into four
categories for this purpose. In this way, the Community will
hope to guarantee both security of supply to the exporting
countries and security against great increases in import
penetration to the Community's textile industry.
Commission also propose to make very considerable improvements
in the Community's GSP for textiles in 1979 (perhaps trebling
the volume covered). Hong Kong will be included on the same
basis as her competitors.
•
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